Did you know that the Gospel is centered in the middle of a war? Two sides are fighting for you. Their leaders are God and Satan.
You may know the story – God created everything in the heavens and the earth and they were good in His sight. Conflict arose when one of His creatures in heaven sinned against Him by wanting to usurp God’s throne. This prideful division spread throughout heaven to others and a great host of them received God’s judgement and were thrown out of heaven.
The conflict spread to the earth as the evil creature, Satan, tempted humans with the same scenario he tempted the angels. Is God’s word really true? Do you have to obey Him all the time? Don’t you want the same power as Him? Doubt was cast and humans chose to listen to him instead of God. Then sin corrupted mankind and the earth from that day forward.
There’s something special about people that’s different than the rest of all creation. We were created in the image of God. Therefore, God has an intimately unique relationship with us more than anything else. In that, He made it His mission to win our hearts back to Him and free us from the curse of sin and death. He pursued us, but nothing could fully win us back to Him because we were corrupted by the filter of sin through which we were looking.
God knew that the only way to free us was to send His perfect Son, Jesus, who was fully God and fully man, to be a sacrifice for us. Jesus’ powerful death and resurrection became an atoning gift that broke the curse of sin and death.
This presented an option for us. Do we stay on Satan’s team, continuing in sin and the desire to strive to be our own “god?” Or, do we accept the completely gracious free gift of salvation Jesus’ gave, and join His team, giving worship and service to the Creator?
Do you see how the Gospel is centered in the war? There’s always been a choice – to live for Satan and self, or by faith in the God of Israel/Jesus.
Sin keeps people blinded from the Truth of the Gospel, until you share it with them. Everyone is automatically enlisted in Satan’s army because we are born into sin. He gained power when man gave it to him by sinning. He’s still roaming the earth and people are still sinners until Jesus Christ returns one final time.
But you and I have a choice. We don’t have to stay on his side.
Because of Jesus’ gift of salvation, the Lord has graciously extended the offer to join allegiance with Him free of charge; no questions asked. You just need to believe Jesus’ story is true and real, that what He did for you was enough, and dedicate your life in relationship to Him. Then you’re enlisted into the greatest army of all.
How can I be so sure?
Read the Bible. Jesus wins. The war will end. Heaven and earth will pass away and a new heaven and earth will be formed; one with no sin, death, or evil. Those enlisted in the King of Kings’ army will live there in peace forevermore.
Those who remain holding allegiance to Satan? Well, Hell is also real, and the stakes are that high. It is clear in the Bible that those who reject Jesus’ gift will enter Hell for eternity. God isn’t harsh for that judgement. He’s given you the option to trust your life to Him. The truth is in the Bible for you to understand who He is, what He’s done for you, and what’s going to happen.
It’s hard to talk about Hell. We want to avoid the thought at all cost. But it’s there and needs to be addressed, because there’s no point in choosing Jesus if you don’t understand what’s at stake for rejecting Him.
War isn’t gentle or nice. It’s brutal. But that’s the beauty of the Gospel. It offers peace. Peace for this life and peace for eternity.
“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” John 16:33
So please rise in courage to proclaim the Gospel truth to those you know, and pray that the Lord will continue to pursue everyone relentlessly, because we’re all in need. He alone can lift the filter that sin created in order to expose His amazing truth to all. He wants everyone to receive the incredible gift He offers, but how will people know if you don’t tell them?
“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Romans 10:13-15
